School district in the black

As the books for FY’12 get set to come to a close, the Barnstable School District will once again end the year on a relatively good note.

Kathleen Szmit

Belt-tightening, mild winter allow for FY’12 surplus

As the books for FY’12 get set to come to a close, the Barnstable School District will once again end the year on a relatively good note.

“It was a positive year and we have an appropriation surplus,” said Gareth Markwell, deputy finance director for the Town of Barnstable.

In a brief presentation at the Sept. 19 school committee meeting, Markwell noted that the district employed controlled use of Special Revenue funds, kept its unanticipated expenditures low and managed to balance overages with areas of surplus.

The Salary and Wages aspect of the budget came in at a significant overage of $342,906 over budget, but benefits were under budget by about $301,000.

The district’s top four savings categories in regards to operating costs were in instructional equipment, heating, utilities and transportation, which all produced a $254,118 surplus.

Markwell said that a mild winter and conversions in boiler systems to natural gas helped greatly, and where transportation was concerned, bringing more contracted services in-house allowed for a savings of approximately $22,000.

Supplies were also over budget by about $20,000, but operating costs came in at $254,000 under budget, creating a surplus of about $191,991.

Markwell said that the numbers do not include any closed-out encumbrances from previous years, which Markwell expected might be in the $400,000 range.

Overtime proved an under-budgeted area, as did compensation for special education drivers and monitors, as well as substitutes.

“You can never budget enough and you can never get it right,” Markwell said. “We continually exceed our budget for substitutes.”

Supt. Dr. Mary Czajkowski suggested the district analyze whether the district’s professional development days, typically half days for students, had an impact on the increased need for substitutes.

Although the district was in the red with funds from Circuit Breaker and transportation fees, it spent far less on School Choice than anticipated, spending only $86,150 as opposed to the budgeted amount of $400,000 for a savings of roughly $350,000.

Though Markwell said that ending a fiscal year with a surplus is getting to be more difficult, he is pleased with the FY’12 results.

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